


Guessing Game

by Arsenal



Series: Buddie Fics [5]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Buck needs to learn not to eavesdrop, Christopher saves the day, Eddie needs to learn to just communicate, Everyone Is Gay, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, I headcanon Bosko as a lesbian sorry not sorry, Idiots in Love, M/M, Oblivious Buck, buddie, idk what Im even writing anymore, not proof read again, some slight internalized homophobia from Eddie if you squint, this is actually the dorkiest shit, yet again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-08 11:24:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21475216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arsenal/pseuds/Arsenal
Summary: "Well you've gotta give me some details, man, anything," he pleaded."Blonde hair, blue eyes, and tall," Eddie sighed back."Pretty?""Yes, very."Buck was puzzled, he didn't know any women that looked like that off the top of his head.-----------------Buck overhears Eddie telling his mother that he has feelings for someone and drives himself nuts trying to figure out who is possibly could be.aka yet another oblivious Buck fic
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Eddie Diaz, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Series: Buddie Fics [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1544842
Comments: 32
Kudos: 972





	Guessing Game

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably one of the dorkiest things I’ve ever written but enjoy.
> 
> Buck hates poor Bosko a little bit excessively in this one, but it’s because of pure jealousy.

Buck was beginning to get worried. It had been at least ten whole minutes since Eddie had taken a phone call and left the break room. It wasn’t like the man wasn’t fully able to take care of himself but Buck was worried that maybe the call was about Christopher and something was wrong. His friend didn’t usually answer his phone at work unless it was an emergency, and he hadn’t said who it was before he wandered off. Hen raised an eyebrow at the anxious foot he was tapping up and down, but didn't say anything.

Finally he couldn’t take it anymore and jogged out of the room, searching the building for where his best friend had gone. It took him a few minutes of searching before he found him out back, facing the other direction pacing and pulling at his short hair. 

“No mamá. Lo siento, I’m not interested. There’s someone I already have feelings for, you know that.”

Buck’s stomach did an excited flip flop, unable to believe what he’d just heard. This was huge news. The man hadn't shown interest in dating since Shannon, and he’d just told whoever he was talking to that he finally had moved on. Buck knew how badly his friend had been hurting and there was nothing more that he wanted than to see Eddie happy and loved like he deserved.

When his friend turned to pace back in his direction his eyes grew wide, clearly not having expected him to be there. A dark expression crossed his face and Buck suddenly realized how things probably looked to him.

“I have to go,” he said, immediately hanging up his phone.

“Hey, sorry. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, I just wanted to make sure things were okay and that wasn’t about Chritopher,” he explained, rubbing the back of his neck.

Eddie’s face softened at the mention of his son.

“It was just my mom, everything’s okay. I’d tell you if something was wrong with Christopher.”

Buck let out an internal sigh of relief that his friend wasn’t mad. His mom probably was after they way her son had just hung up on her though.

“So uh, what’s this about a new love interest?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows.

“It’s nothing.”

“Right, so you just tell your mom about ‘nothing’ now huh?”

Eddie crossed his arms in a challenging way, clearly not wanting to talk about it any further.

Buck sighed, he wasn’t trying to be nosy, he just wanted to be his wingman. Getting any girl was his area of expertise, so he was confident he could help Eddie. If he could just find out who the lucky gal that caught his friend's eye that was.

It really was his fault when he left Buck no other choice but to pester him about it their entire shift. The rest of the 118 wisely chose to ignore whatever was going on with them and left the pair to argue in peace.

He’d been shot down every time he’d asked since that morning, unable to get as much as a name or age from him, but Buck still remained determined. They were wiping down the trucks between calls per Bobby’s orders when the blonde decided to give it a try again.

"So I don't get to know who?" Buck begged.

"No, Buck. They don’t even like me back."

The younger man rolled his eyes. Who wouldn’t like Eddie back? He was a genuinely good guy, funny, an amazing father and _ very _ good looking. His friend needed to give himself more credit, he would definitely be considered a catch to anyone. And if it was Christopher that he thought would be a problem then he was nuts, because there was no way not to love his son too. If anything it made him an even better deal.

"Well you've gotta give me some details, man, anything," he pleaded.

"Blonde hair, blue eyes, and tall," Eddie sighed back.

"Pretty?"

"Yes, very."

Buck was puzzled, he didn't know any women that looked like that off the top of his head. That meant Eddie had met her somewhere that Buck had never been, which narrowed the options a lot. The two of them didn’t go many places without the other one.

His heart clenched slightly when he realized a possibility, maybe he'd met her street fighting. Buck didn't want that type of negative influence in his friend's life, especially after he'd just stopped fighting. He glanced at the slightly healed bruises peeking out from under Eddies sleeve and bit his lip. Surely he couldn’t mean that Bosko chick...

Finally he thought of an easy question that would answer if it was or not.

"Does Christopher know her?"

"Uh… yeah. Pretty well," Eddie mumbled, as he continued wiping at a non existent dirt spot.

Now Buck was even more confused. At least it wasn't Bosko or someone from a fighting ring, but who would Christopher know that looked like that? He tapped his fingers lightly against the fire engine in front of him as he thought deeply.

_ OH _.

Christopher's art teacher, Ms. Clayfield was a pretty blonde woman and around Eddie's age too. He'd met her before a few times after picking up Chris from school and going to PTA meetings with his partner. He smirked, proud that he'd figured it out with such little information.

She was a nice seeming woman and Christopher talked about her a lot after school, usually when he was showing Buck the drawings he'd made. She was very encouraging to him and had a closer bond with the boy than his other teachers. 

He suddenly frowned a second later when he realized that meant he'd have to make room to share Christopher with someone else. Yes, he was glad that Eddie's new love interest would definitely like his son, but for him that meant no more lying on the floor in a pile of crayons with Chris until his bed time. There would be no more movie nights at Eddie's or just bumming around the Diaz house whenever he felt like it. There would be date nights now and he'd have to find somewhere else to hang out. The thought of being in his empty apartment every day again filled him with a sense of dread. Suddenly he didn’t want Eddie dating someone, even if it was for selfish reasons.

"You alright? You look kind of pale," Eddie asked next to him, voice filled with concern.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm good,” he lied, “I just figured out who you like,” he grinned.

“I… highly doubt that.”

“Ms. Clayfield, right?”

“Nope.”

Buck was lost again. Who else could he possibly be talking about then? He began scrubbing at the firetruck again, staring into the red polish as if it might have the answer. His own reflection simply stared back at him unhelpfully and he let out a groan.

“Who then?” he whined.

“I already said, I’m not ready to tell you yet,” Eddie sighed, turning away from him.

“Just one more question? I promise I’ll stop after.”

“_ Fine _.”

“How did you meet?”

Eddie froze. It was clear that he didn’t want to answer that question.

“Through work,” he muttered, making his way towards the stairs to take a break.

He felt his heart fall, it was Bosko then. Out of everyone it possibly could be, it had to be that stupid woman. But when had she gotten to know Christopher? Did she take his place in the Diaz home after he left too? Was stealing his spot at work not good enough for her?

The alarm went off before Buck could chase after his friend and he let out a sigh before he went to gear up.

Sitting in the truck while they drove to each call left him far too much time to think and Buck spent the rest of his shift irritated, unable to get the thought of Bosko and Eddie out of his head. He didn't really know her, but she seemed a little hot headed and impulsive from what others had said. Eddie deserved to have someone solid by his side, especially while he was in a bad place. She also seemed like she'd be a terrible influence on Christopher after what she'd introduced his father to already.

Maybe if he found someone else to interest Eddie in, he'd forget about Bosko. He could make Eddie a dating profile on an app or maybe actually interest him in Ms. Clayfield, if blondes were in fact his type. For some reason neither idea sounded very appealing though, and he was left feeling defeated.

\--------------

On Friday night Eddie asked Buck to come over for a movie after work, and he realized that neither of them had brought up his friend’s dating life since Monday. If he was being honest with himself, he wasn’t sure if he should bring it up again and spent the entire drive over trying not to think about it.

He didn’t bother knocking when he got there, opting to use the key that Eddie had given him instead. Christopher cheered and hurried down the hall when he opened the front door to the Diaz residence, hugging his waist tightly. He’d missed the little guy more than words could describe. The blonde threw his bag carelessly to the side and scooped Christopher up to carry him to the couch, leaving a trail of giggles behind them. From the corner of his eye Buck saw Eddie briefly watching them with a fond smile on his face, before he turned to leave.

“You two pick a movie out,” he called out as he walked to the kitchen.

Buck glanced down at his favorite little boy.

“What do you wanna watch, buddy?”

“Uh-mm, I don’t know.”

“How about the new Toy Story? I hear that one is supposed to be pretty good.”

Christopher nodded his head enthusiastically.

By the time Eddie got back with some beer, popcorn and soda, Buck had finished finding the movie and renting it. The older man settled down on the other side of Christopher, and handed the bowl of popcorn to his eager son. After a few more moments of settling in Buck started the movie, screen flickering to life with color. He hoped this one was as good as the old ones.

The movie was only about half way over before he looked down and noticed Christopher had already passed out, head lolled to the side against his dad. It was adorable and Buck felt fuzzy inside looking at them. When he glanced up, Eddie locked eyes with him and smiled.

He paused the movie so that his friend could take the boy to bed, missing the warmth next to him as Chris got carried down the hall. When Eddie got back and settled in again, Buck laid down and stretched himself across the couch, plopping his head on the older man’s lap. It earned him an eye roll but he didn’t get shoved onto the floor, so he started the movie back up.

Buck couldn’t remember a time in his life that he’d been happier than just chilling with Eddie on nights like these. He really hoped that even if things changed that this part wouldn’t go away, he’d miss them so much. He’d lost so much this year already and he didn’t think he could handle one more thing being ripped away.

Eddie placed a hand on shoulder and rubbed it soothingly, pushing the negative thoughts out of the younger man’s head. Buck swore he was psychic or something because he always seemed to know when he was overthinking things.

“You know how much you mean to me, right?” he heard him ask quietly, barely able to hear the words over the movie.

“Of course, dude. You’re my best friend,” he said, grinning up at him.

Eddie kept his eyes glued to the TV screen and didn’t say anything else.

\------------

“So what do you think of Eddie and Bosko?” he asked Hen the next morning.

“...what about them?” she replied confused.

“You know, like as a couple.”

“I don’t think that things are like that with him and Lena,” Hen said, as she shook her head.

Hearing Hen call Bosko by her first name was like a blow to the gut. When had she become close enough with the rest of the station to get called by her first name? He scowled.

“Not yet, but he’s been interested in her.”

Hen stared at him skeptically.

“In Lena?”

“Yeah he said there was someone he’d met at work that he was interested in.”

“And you think he meant her?” she snorted, clearly amused.

Buck furrowed his brows and tilted his head at her, unable to understand why she thought it was so unbelievable. Hadn’t anyone else noticed how much time the two of them had spent together? There was no way that Hen was _ that _ unobservant.

“Why don’t you just tell him to confess his feelings so that you know who he means?”

“You know what Hen, you’re right. If he won’t tell me who it is, then if he confesses to them I get to find out anyway,” he said triumphantly. 

Hen sipped her coffee and tilted her head towards the stairs, indicating for him to go.

“Well go talk to him, I can’t take you acting like this for another whole shift.”

Buck rolled his eyes at her and left, hellbent on finally getting an answer. Today was the day.

\--------------

He found Eddie downstairs in the locker room, rummaging through his bag for something. The man paused and looked at him questioningly when he marched over to him. Buck plopped down on the bench and turned to look up at him.

“You should just tell your crush how you feel.”

Even if it was Bosko, Buck would suck it up and deal with it. He needed to know if he was right and he couldn’t stand to see the way Eddie was moping around all the time and refusing to do anything about it. A frown fell across his friend’s face.

“I can’t.”

“Dude, c’mon why not?”

“Because it’s a _ lot _ more than just a ‘crush’ and I can’t mess it up. Besides, I’ve tried to make multiple moves before and they all went unnoticed.”

Buck snorted. He’d made moves on Bosko before and she hadn’t understood? Either way it was no reason for his friend to give up if that was what he really wanted.

“Eddie, I don’t get why it’s such a big deal that you like her. What makes this so different than with anyone else?” he asked.

“Because it’s not a ‘_ her _’ it’s a guy, and I’ve never had feelings for another man before.”

_ Oh _. So Eddie had been going through a sexuality crisis, no wonder he hadn’t wanted to talk about it publicly. He still could have told Buck though, he was his best friend and far from homophobic. They were supposed to figure things out together not keep secrets from each other.

“Dude, you could have just told me that, it’s not like I was gonna judge you.” he pouted, “Buck 1.0 slept with _ everyone, _men included.”

Eddie looked surprised and sat down next to him finally, their level of comfort rising again.

“You’ve never mentioned that.”

“I try not to talk about anything from when I was Buck 1.0, I’m a different guy now.”

“So you aren’t into men anymore?”

“No, I definitely still am. I just don’t sleep with all of the ones that catch my eye now,” he laughed.

Eddie still looked very serious when he made eye contact with him and Buck realized that maybe his sexuality wasn’t that easy for him. Buck had never really even put a label on his own before, he’d always just loved everyone. The gender of his partner had never mattered and he was confident enough in himself not to care what other people thought. It was hard for him to fathom that not everyone else felt that way though.

“It doesn’t change anything, Eddie. Being bisexual just means you get the best of both sides,” he said, bumping him with his shoulder.

Eddie opened his mouth to answer him but Buck cut him off with a sudden realization.

“_ Wait _, you mean you aren’t into Bosko?”

“Lena? What? No,” Eddie said looking absolutely baffled by the question. 

Buck let out a sigh of relief. Thank God, Hen had been right.

Wait.

That left the question of who Eddie had meant then. Was it someone that they’d met on a call? There had definitely been some good looking blonde guys at the gym they’d answer a call to a few weeks back. He’d seen Eddie talking to a guy in the corner after they’d managed to help the victim that the gym equipment had fallen on, but had forgotten about it until now.

A knock sounded from the doorway and interrupted his thoughts.

“Cap is giving the morning briefing and wants you guys,” Chimney said, eyeing the two of them funny.

Buck reluctantly followed, with Eddie not trailing far behind him. They could finish their talk later.

\-----------

It finally hit Buck like a cold splash of water to the face a week later, when he was watching Christopher for the night. 

Eddie had a late shift and had insisted that his abuela could watch him, but Buck hadn’t wanted to miss a chance to spend time with the boy. He still felt the need to make up for when he hadn’t been around, even though he was grateful that the boy didn’t seem to hold a grudge against him for being absent.

Per usual, they had a fantastic time.The two of them had played with Christopher’s legos for a few hours before it was his bedtime and Buck was forced to end their fun. The nightly routine of brushing his teeth, then tucking him in and reading a book to him came to him all too familiarly. It was a small thing he’d missed without realizing.

Buck yawned, and peered over at Christopher, making sure his eyes were closed, but when he stood to exit the room he heard a sound behind him.

“Buck, do you ever have bad dreams?”

He turned around surprised, and went back over to squat down next to his bed.

“Yeah buddy, I do. Everyone has those sometimes. Do you wanna talk about yours?” he asked, knowing that he’d been having some pretty nasty nightmares.

Chrsitopher gently shook his head.

“I just see my mom sometimes. It makes me miss her,” the little boy confessed.

Buck swore he felt his heart shatter when heard the words and bit his lower lip in frustration. He would do anything to make the boy feel better, but he wasn’t exactly sure how. Comforting people had never been his strongest area of expertise and this was a difficult situation.

“It’s okay to miss people, I miss people a lot too. The only thing we can do is focus on the people we still have around though, yeah?” he said, as he stroked the boys hair out of his face.

“When you were gone and daddy missed you, I didn’t know how to help him,” Christopher mumbled sadly, “He said that just because he loved you didn’t mean you’d come back to us.”

The waterfall of emotions that slammed into Buck was indescribable. He’d expected this to stay focused solely on Shannon, not take that direction. The lump that had formed in his throat was suddenly making it difficult to breathe as he panicked. No, no no, Chris thought he’d abandoned them and had been having nightmares and Eddie said that he’d loved him and he hadn’t been there and-

“Buck?”

That snapped him out of it. He pushed his own feelings aside for the moment, knowing he needed to comfort Christopher before he could take time to process things. This time knowing what words to say came easily to him.

“Of course I’d come back to you guys, I’m so sorry if either of you thought I wouldn’t. I promise I won’t ever leave either of you again.”

The fireman couldn’t help the tears that welled in his eyes as he pulled the boy into a hug, squeezing as tightly as he could without squashing him. The last thing he wanted was for him to ever believe such a thing. Christopher made a happy noise as he held him that way for a moment, finally releasing him to press a kiss to his forehead.

“You’re really special to me, you know that?” Buck asked after he’d pulled back.

Christopher yawned and nodded happily in response as he stood up, knowing he needed to let him rest. He paused in the doorway, feeling uneasy about leaving him alone, but the boy looked content after their talk.

“If you need me, I’ll be right down the hall okay?” he reassured him.

“Okay, goodnight Buck. I love you.”

“I love you too, buddy.”

\-----------

He spent an entire hour sitting on the couch, panicking over his feelings before he finally heard Eddie’s truck pull into the driveway. He swore the drive had taken the other man twice as long as usual. As a matter of fact, if he had taken any longer Buck was sure he’d probably would have gone insane.

When Eddie opened the door he seemed surprised to see Buck awake and sitting on the couch waiting for him. He quickly put his bag down and walked over to sit next to him, eyes filled with concern.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, just uh- did you mean me? W-when you said that had feelings for someone?” he stuttered out, running a hand through his hair.

The older man blushed and nodded, looking down to avoid his gaze.

“Why didn’t you just say so?”

“Dios, I tried dropping hints for months, Buck. Then I was going to tell you, but you seemed so intent on it being someone else that I didn’t know how anymore. I wasn’t even sure if you were into guys or not until last week-”

“I love you,” Buck blurted out, unable to stop the words from escaping.

Eddie looked back up at him with wide eyes, clearly not having expected it. Shit. Buck really hoped he hadn’t taken things too far, but 0 to 60 was how things always went with him. He relaxed a second later when a familiar hand reached onto his knee and squeezed it gently in a reassuring way. One of the biggest smiles he’d ever seen was lit up his best friend’s face.

“I love you too, cariño,” Eddie whispered. 

There was no protest at all when his best friend finally surged forward and kissed him, hands sliding around his head and waist. The warm mouth and strong body pressed against his own felt welcoming and familiar, so much better than anyone else he’d ever shared a kiss with. It was like a missing piece of him had suddenly been reconnected and he was whole again. Eddie was _ his _, and he never wanted to let him go.

When Christopher found them both in Eddie’s bed the next day, Buck thought the boy was going to explode from excitement.

\-----------

Bonus:

The following Monday when Buck walked up the stairs to eat dinner with the crew, he found them all laughing over something. 

“What’s going on?” he asked, wanting in on the joke.

“You thought that Eddie liked _ Bosko _?” Chim cackled.

“You should have seen how jealous he was asking me about her, oh lord,” Hen said, shaking her head.

Buck turned red and shuffled his way awkwardly to his empty seat next to his boyfriend. He was _ not _ jealous, it really wasn’t that weird of an assumption. Eddie kissed his cheek as he sat down and he pointedly ignored the fake gag Hen made as he dug into the meal that Bobby had cooked. The man really should have been a chef and not a fireman, he mused.

“You know Lena’s gay, right?” his boyfriend whispered in his ear, a smirk on his face.

Buck choked on the piece of chicken he’d just put into his mouth.

**Author's Note:**

> One day I’ll write something that isn’t oblivious Buck, I swear.
> 
> Leave kudos and comment your thoughts if you enjoyed!
> 
> You can find me as Buckley118 on tumblr.


End file.
